1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is broadly concerned with improved floor assemblies for use in constructing thermal processing cabinets or houses such as smokehouses and chillers. More particularly, the invention is concerned with such floor assemblies, weldment frames forming a part of the floor assemblies, and completed thermal processing cabinets wherein the problems of unwanted liquid collection and inadequate load-bearing capacities are overcome.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Thermal processing of food products such as meat involves the cooking and/or chilling of these products in an upright cabinet or house. The products are placed on carriers with the latter being positioned within the cabinet or house for cooking, smoking, or chilling. The carriers may be wheeled or moveable by a forklift. The product carriers can be very heavy and accordingly the cabinet or house floor must support this weight. If the carriers are moved using a forklift, the floor must also be able to accommodate the additional weight of the forklift.
Thermal processing cabinets or houses commonly have a floor provided with a stainless steel sheet metal tread surface. Accordingly, structure must be provided for adequately supporting the tread surface. In the case of cabinets or houses with light carrier loadings, an insulated panel floor may be used. However, where heavier loadings and/or forklift weights must be accommodated, a concrete sub-floor is usually necessary.
A common method of constructing a concrete floor assembly for a thermal processing cabinet or house begins with pouring a concrete foundation having a recess large enough to accept the footprint of the cabinet or house. Such recesses are typically formed at a depth of around 2.5 inches, with one or more drain openings. Next, the cabinet or house walls are set into the recess and a pre-formed gridwork of angle iron (typically stainless steel) is placed within the confines of the cabinet or house walls and is secured to the concrete using fasteners. The gridwork is constructed to present sloped upper most surfaces leading to the drain(s). A drain fitting is next installed, followed by a second pour of concrete covering the gridwork. The second pour is then screeded to the top surface of the gridwork to provide a drainage surface, and the tread plate is then installed by welding it in place.
This type of floor installation suffers from a number of problems. First, the floor construction requires two separate concrete pours, one for the initial recess sub-floor and a second to complete the floor after the cabinet or house walls are installed. Furthermore, the conventional floor designs inevitably create a collection basin or region between the separate concrete pours which holds water and other liquids. This provides a very effective but unwelcome environment for bacterial growth which is a very undesirable condition in food plants, in that it compromises food safety. Moreover, given that the initial concrete recess is typically at a fixed depth and the angle iron gridwork slopes to the central floor drain, the depth of the floor “thins out” or decreases in depth toward the drain. This thinning decreases the integrity of the subfloor and can lead to floor break-up or “crumbling” which eventually causes the underlying gridwork to sag. Once this occurs, the tread plate can be bent or deformed under the weight of the food carriers and/or forklifts, causing floor concavities which do not drain. Such a deformed floor condition will often hold water (known as “ponding”) which again is very undesirable from the standpoint of food safety.
The following references describe conventional food processing cabinets or houses and the floors thereof: U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,722,287; 5,775,847; 5,398,598; 2,505,973; and 2,352,590.
The present invention overcomes the problems outlined above, and provides weldment frames designed for use in fabricating thermal processing cabinet floors. Broadly speaking, such weldment frames include a peripheral frame assembly including opposed wall-receiving channel segments, and a plurality of elongated, laterally spaced apart frame elements secured to and extending between opposed portions of the peripheral frame. The weldment frames preferably are associated with drainage structure. For example, the weldment frames may be designed to receive one or more tubular drain units located within the peripheral frame. Alternately, the weldment frames may be configured to have an apex or “peak” in the central region thereof with a sloping gradient toward peripheral drains or doorways. Further, if desired the weldment frame may be designed with a slope from one end to the opposite end, with an end drain opening or doorway. One or more tread plates are secured to the peripheral frame assembly and at least certain of the frame elements, such that the tread plates surround the drain units. The tread plates have drainage gradients extending from the peripheral frame assembly towards the drain units, to assure adequate liquid drainage.
In preferred forms, the frame elements are equipped with a plurality of spaced apart, somewhat Z-shaped concrete anchors, wherein the frame elements are generally L-shaped in cross-section and present elongated bights, and the anchors are secured to the frame elements along the length of the bights.
A preferred floor assembly includes one or more of the weldment frames located within a complemental recess, with a monolithic pour of concrete within and through the peripheral frame assemblies of the weldment frames. The tread plates are secured to the underlying weldment frames to complete the floor assembly.
A finished thermal processing cabinet is provided by erecting the walls thereof on the floor assembly. This involves placement of opposed cabinet walls within the channel segments, with the remaining walls situated atop the concrete pour.
Turning now to the drawings, a multiple-chamber smokehouse 20 is illustrated in
The floor assembly 22 broadly includes a total of three adjacent weldment frames 38, a monolithic layer or pour of concrete 40 within and covering the frames 38, and tread plates 42. Each frame 38 is designed to receive a pair of spaced apart, upright, tubular, circumferentially collared drain units 44, with the tread plates 42 installed in surrounding, interconnected relationship to the drain units 44 as will be described.
In greater detail, the weldment frames 38 (see
In order to provide appropriate drainage gradients leading to each drain unit 44, the frame elements 54 and cross braces 60 are positioned with the uppermost edges thereof progressively decrease in height from the leg segments 48 and 50.
In the construction of floor assembly 22, an appropriate recess 66 is formed as illustrated in
In the final construction step after curing of the concrete 40, the tread plates 42 are installed. As best seen in
At this point the wall structures making up each smokehouse 20 are erected. This involves first placing the end walls 26 within the channels 52 and supporting the sidewalls 24 and intermediate walls 36 on the upper surface of concrete 40. These walls are then interconnected in the usual fashion and the remainder of each smokehouse is likewise conventionally constructed.
The completed smokehouses 20 are thus provided with essentially monolithically poured floor assemblies 22 which do not have pools or water collection regions typical with prior art designs. Moreover, the floor assemblies 22 are capable of withstanding very significant live and dead loadings without concrete fracture or deformation of the underlying weldment frame assemblies 38.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2106516 | Cheney | Jan 1938 | A |
2352590 | Trinkle | Jun 1944 | A |
2505973 | Julian | May 1950 | A |
2883852 | Midby | Apr 1959 | A |
3130662 | Robinson | Apr 1964 | A |
3751870 | Vesei | Aug 1973 | A |
3762112 | Evans et al. | Oct 1973 | A |
3887716 | Seelbach | Jun 1975 | A |
3903788 | Freeland et al. | Sep 1975 | A |
4336788 | Stein | Jun 1982 | A |
4541132 | Long | Sep 1985 | A |
4635413 | Hansen et al. | Jan 1987 | A |
4644708 | Baudot et al. | Feb 1987 | A |
4918897 | Luedtke | Apr 1990 | A |
5371980 | Dix | Dec 1994 | A |
5398598 | McFarlane et al. | Mar 1995 | A |
5402612 | diGirolamo et al. | Apr 1995 | A |
5447000 | Larsen | Sep 1995 | A |
5775847 | Carlinsky et al. | Jul 1998 | A |
6003169 | Davis, Jr. | Dec 1999 | A |
6088984 | Kirby | Jul 2000 | A |
6155015 | Kirby | Dec 2000 | A |
6460297 | Bonds et al. | Oct 2002 | B1 |
6722287 | Norton et al. | Apr 2004 | B2 |
20060277847 | Yates | Dec 2006 | A1 |
20090217612 | Window | Sep 2009 | A1 |
20100000169 | Grave et al. | Jan 2010 | A1 |
Number | Date | Country |
---|---|---|
101 22 035 | Nov 2002 | DE |
2 244 428 | Apr 1991 | GB |
Number | Date | Country | |
---|---|---|---|
20100223863 A1 | Sep 2010 | US |